Grade 3 Curriculum
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Phone: 248-553-2750
Email: [email protected] |
The third grade program at St. Fabian Catholic School follows the standards of the Archdiocese of Detroit. The program is designed to meet the spiritual, social, emotional, academic and physical needs of the child. Special subjects, such as physical education, Spanish, music, media, computers, and art, are taught by teachers who specialize in those areas.
Religion
Students celebrate and learn about their Catholic faith through religious education lessons, daily prayer, classroom discussions, service learning projects, attendance at weekly Mass, and through participating in school liturgies. The third grade also hosts the Living Rosary, a special all-school event in the month of October. Some of the other topics students will experience in third grade here in religion are The Church is one, holy, and Apostolic, Jesus’ miracles, prayers, the sacraments, feasts and seasons, and our Catholic heritage.
Math
In third grade, students, employing EnVision Math 2.0, begin to work on math problems that require them to analyze given information and think critically about how to solve problems. We especially work hard to recognize the patterns we notice with numbers to help us solve bigger problems in math. Students get to use tools like a multiplication chart when starting to learn about multiplication. Working through problems and knowing how and what tools to use to help solve them is all a part of becoming an independent and reflective learner in third grade. The math topics covered in third grade are place value up to six-digit numbers, addition and subtraction up to four-digits and with using money, multiplication and division up to 144, representing and interpreting data using graphs and plots, time, capacity, and mass, lines, angles, 2D shapes, perimeter, area, and volume, fractions: estimating, comparing, ordering, adding, and subtracting.
Science
In third grade, students truly take on the role of scientists by participating in numerous hands-on experiments. For each experiment, students learn how to write down their observations, collect data, work cooperatively with others, and learn how to analyze, interpret, and share their scientific findings. We use the FOSS science curriculum. This program touches on all of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). The science topics we cover in third grade with this engaging program are animal survival and heredity, plant life cycle and heredity, weather and climate, forces, motion, and magnets.
Social Studies
Students solely studies Michigan history in third grade. We use the Oakland Schools MAISA units of study and the Meet Michigan textbook as supplemental materials. Third graders love the historical fiction stories incorporated in each chapter to better explain concepts and what life was like for the Native Americans and the French fur traders. The two highlights of the year are when students get to do research, make, and present a 3D Wigwam model and visit the State Capitol for a field trip. Other topics we cover with Michigan history are Michigan geography, Michigan’s first people, the British and French visitors, becoming a state, Michigan economics, and Michigan government.
Language Arts
In third grade, your child transitions from learning to read, to reading to learn. Comprehension, analyzing text, using text evidence to support their answers, and applying the text to the world and to themselves, are huge strides students make this year. Students will develop their literacy skills during whole-group, small-group literacy centers, and one-on-one lessons/activities. Through read alouds, reading to peers, word work games, guided reading, and independent reading, students will receive instruction in a variety of ways in order to meet their individual needs as readers and writers.
Handwriting
We use the Zaner-Bloser Handwriting Book. This book continues to work on improving manuscript writing. It has easy step-by-step directions. Each lesson has a practice skill, and application skill and then a review of what they have learned. The program teaches students to write fluently and legibly with very few strokes. Students begin the year by refining their printing skills and gradually move towards writing everything in cursive by the end of the year.
Religion
Students celebrate and learn about their Catholic faith through religious education lessons, daily prayer, classroom discussions, service learning projects, attendance at weekly Mass, and through participating in school liturgies. The third grade also hosts the Living Rosary, a special all-school event in the month of October. Some of the other topics students will experience in third grade here in religion are The Church is one, holy, and Apostolic, Jesus’ miracles, prayers, the sacraments, feasts and seasons, and our Catholic heritage.
Math
In third grade, students, employing EnVision Math 2.0, begin to work on math problems that require them to analyze given information and think critically about how to solve problems. We especially work hard to recognize the patterns we notice with numbers to help us solve bigger problems in math. Students get to use tools like a multiplication chart when starting to learn about multiplication. Working through problems and knowing how and what tools to use to help solve them is all a part of becoming an independent and reflective learner in third grade. The math topics covered in third grade are place value up to six-digit numbers, addition and subtraction up to four-digits and with using money, multiplication and division up to 144, representing and interpreting data using graphs and plots, time, capacity, and mass, lines, angles, 2D shapes, perimeter, area, and volume, fractions: estimating, comparing, ordering, adding, and subtracting.
Science
In third grade, students truly take on the role of scientists by participating in numerous hands-on experiments. For each experiment, students learn how to write down their observations, collect data, work cooperatively with others, and learn how to analyze, interpret, and share their scientific findings. We use the FOSS science curriculum. This program touches on all of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). The science topics we cover in third grade with this engaging program are animal survival and heredity, plant life cycle and heredity, weather and climate, forces, motion, and magnets.
Social Studies
Students solely studies Michigan history in third grade. We use the Oakland Schools MAISA units of study and the Meet Michigan textbook as supplemental materials. Third graders love the historical fiction stories incorporated in each chapter to better explain concepts and what life was like for the Native Americans and the French fur traders. The two highlights of the year are when students get to do research, make, and present a 3D Wigwam model and visit the State Capitol for a field trip. Other topics we cover with Michigan history are Michigan geography, Michigan’s first people, the British and French visitors, becoming a state, Michigan economics, and Michigan government.
Language Arts
In third grade, your child transitions from learning to read, to reading to learn. Comprehension, analyzing text, using text evidence to support their answers, and applying the text to the world and to themselves, are huge strides students make this year. Students will develop their literacy skills during whole-group, small-group literacy centers, and one-on-one lessons/activities. Through read alouds, reading to peers, word work games, guided reading, and independent reading, students will receive instruction in a variety of ways in order to meet their individual needs as readers and writers.
Handwriting
We use the Zaner-Bloser Handwriting Book. This book continues to work on improving manuscript writing. It has easy step-by-step directions. Each lesson has a practice skill, and application skill and then a review of what they have learned. The program teaches students to write fluently and legibly with very few strokes. Students begin the year by refining their printing skills and gradually move towards writing everything in cursive by the end of the year.
St. Fabian Catholic Church
32200 W. Twelve Mile Road Farmington Hills, MI 48334 248-553-4610 [email protected] Weekend Mass Times Saturday Vigil: 5pm Sunday: 8am, 10am, 12pm, 5:30pm |